Obama Cartoon Takes Me Back to 1990

This cartoon controversy reminds me of one that visited Page High School during my senior year (1989-90). I wish I had a copy of the cartoon, but at least the News & Record archives reminded me of some of the details.

"The student walkout came after a cartoon appeared in the school newspaper depicting a black student wearing a basketball uniform and holding a watermelon and a chicken leg. The cartoon also depicted stereotypical images of an Asian and a Hispanic student." (I had forgotten that there had been a student walkout.)

If memory serves me, that description captures the first three frames of a four-frame cartoon. In the fourth frame, I believe a teenager expressed something like, "Do you actually know anyone like this?" The intended message was that stereotyping is not a positive thing to do, but many individuals chose to interpret it differently. You could say that that was because high school students were involved. But that doesn't account for reactions to the New Yorker's cartoon.

In both cases, sensitivity is probably greater because we know that there are individuals out there who do see things almost precisely as illustrated in the cartoons. Some of us don't care to be reminded of that.

When I became a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill, another stereotype-based controversy erupted because of a new statue that I believe was called "The Student Body." It included about five or six students in different poses. The one who appeared to be an African-American male had one finger up, balancing a basketball. There was also a couple, with the male holding a book and the female leaning into him. (I think she might have been holding an apple.) And there was an African-American woman with several books balanced on her head. Ancient history, but I believe that statue is still there, minus at least the basketball scholar--someone kept knocking the ball off his finger. (As an additional sidenote and reminder of how twisted politics can be, that same year, the KKK endorsed Harvey Gantt, hoping that he'd win, serve horribly, and forever ensure that no other blacks would ever be elected again--I believe that was KKK members' expressed logic. And NORML--the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws--endorsed Jesse Helms, believing his pro-tobacco views gave them some sort of shot at gaining his support for marijuana legalization.)